mjh's blog"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." -- Sam Adams2015-03-30T02:31:59Zhttp://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/feed/atom/WordPresshttp://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/favicon.icohttp://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/favicon.icomjhhttp://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/http://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/?p=73072015-03-30T02:31:59Z2015-03-30T02:31:59Z[...]

The Cruz who has most often graced the real estate of our newspapers and Web pages has appeared angry, disgusted, tired of your pathetic silliness, done with your sophomoric suggestions, knowing (more than you, duh), barely tolerant (of your ridiculous ideas), superior in every way, extremely self-satisfied and, most often, brimming with contempt. …

Cruz seems simply tired of those of us who aren’t as committed to Christianity or as disgusted with the government as he is.

We’re to be pitied, really, since anyone who might not find him palatable as an elected representative of the entire country is just, well, daft. Cruz’s conservatism is not so much a political ideology as it is, to him, simply the right and only way to be.

Watching him on “CBS This Morning” the day after his announcement, you saw that Cruz is undaunted. His tilted head, frowning lips, shrugged shoulders and hands upturned in gestures of incredulousness lead you to view his politics as anything other than “speaking the truth” and “defending common sense.”

]]>Born in Canada to an American mother and Cuban father. Of course, he’s natural born and eligible to run (as am I, though born in a US territory). But not even in a US state or territory. Worse than John McCain being born in Panama. I hope the Birthers have a stroke, but you won’t hear a peep out of the hypocrites.

It says a lot that he picked a conservative southern Christian (3 redundancies in a row) “university” to make his announcement, stressing his opposition to abortion and to same-sex marriage. Aren’t both of those issues settled? Just like the separation of church and state so many choose to defy.

Ted Cruz isn’t shy. He’s combative. He rejects compromise as “the mushy middle.” He’s not inclined to wait his turn. And he doesn’t seem to mind annoying his Republican elders with tactics that critics see as destructive and short-sighted. …

In the Senate, he has been more of an agitator than a legislator. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the GOP’s 2012 nominee, once called him a “wacko bird.”

We are preparing to ravage a place before we know all its archaeological secrets. Every decade, more is revealed about Chaco’s complex culture. In the 1970s, for example, low-flying reconnaissance flights gave us the first hints of a vast Chaco road system, with well-made roads about 30 feet wide and laid out in straight lines for miles. And yet the Chacoans had no draft animals or wheeled carts. In the 1980s, scientists proved that one of the world’s only lunar calendars set to the 18.6-year cycle of the moon had been etched on boulders near the top of Chaco’s Fajada Butte.

In the 1990s, Anna Sofaer and the Solstice Project verified that Chaco’s buildings had been constructed to align with solstices and equinoxes of the sun, as well as to lunar cycles. In the past decade, using electron microscopes to analyze smashed pottery sherds from drinking vessels, scientists determined that, during ceremonies, Chacoans drank chocolate from cacao beans traded on foot north from Meso-America.

Who knows what else we might learn about one of the world’s great cultures? Unfortunately, our modern addiction to oil is damaging the landscape faster than it can be studied. Sofaer is creating a new film about these ecological threats. She says, “We filmed on the ground the ravages of many newly constructed roads, pipelines and well pads transforming the landscape east and north of Chaco Canyon. Some sites were within 15 miles of the canyon, where we found archaeological artifacts. On overcast nights, the skies above this area are invaded by an eerie reddish glow from the fracking rigs.”

With oil and gas revenues falling, this is a good time for Congress to draw a protective boundary around Chaco, and agree to full mineral withdrawal of adjacent oil and gas leases on BLM and Navajo allotment lands.

Earlier this year, House Republicans caused an uproar when, in one of the first acts of the new Congress, they attempted to pass an antiabortion bill that would grant exceptions to a rape victim only if she reported the assault to police. Republican women rebelled, and GOP leaders pulled the bill. In the weeks since then, Republican officeholders across the land have been demonstrating that if there isn’t a Republican war on women, there are a lot of loose cannons. In recent weeks, Republican state legislators have described a pregnant woman as “the child’s host” rather than a mother (in Virginia), called women a “lesser cut of meat” (South Carolina), likened Planned Parenthood to the Islamic State terror group (South Dakota), proposed legislation outlawing yoga pants (Montana) and suggested that it is not rape when a man has sex with an unconscious woman if he is in a relationship with her (Utah). …

Alas for the GOP, the gender gap preceded Senate candidate Todd Akin, and the comments have continued since then: the Idaho legislator who asked last month whether a gynecological exam on a woman could be conducted by having her swallow a camera; the New Hampshire legislator who said a Democratic congresswoman would lose because she’s “ugly as sin”; another New Hampshire legislator who argued that men make more than women because “they don’t mind working nights and weekends” or “overtime or outdoors”; the Arizona GOP official who said women on Medicaid should be sterilized; and the New Mexico congressman who endorsed this biblical view: “The wife is to voluntarily submit, just as the husband is to lovingly lead and sacrifice.”

At the same time, Republicans have taken up hundreds of bills in state legislatures restricting abortion, and Democrats have sought to highlight Republican opposition in Congress to the Violence Against Women Act, the Paycheck Fairness Act and other bills.

]]>During a public meeting, Ronny Rardin chastised a citizen for failing to worship Jesus. This is a flagrant violation of the US and New Mexico constitutions. All elected officials swear to uphold these constitutions. Rardin should be impeached. If not impeached, he should be recalled by the voters. If not recalled, he should be pelted with rotten tomatoes at the next public meeting. What a turd in the public punchbowl.

After commission action on other items, it was time for public comment.

A man who identified himself as a Lutheran pastor and former military chaplain said he objected to Rardin saying “in Jesus’ name” during the invocation at the beginning of the commission meeting. The man said prayers in public forums should be nonsectarian.

Note that Rardin also acted like a sexist ass and pushed the limits on public meetings. Then, unhappy with the public he was elected to serve, he imperially curtailed comments. He is the one who should be beyond ashamed.

Two months ago, Rardin was involved in an appalling act of nepotism and favoritism. Our new Land Commissioner, hardly a stellar public servant, gave Rardin a sweetheart deal of a contract. Rardin, in turn, wanted to share the wealth with the son of said Land Commissioner, who already suckles the public teat. Double-dipping, double-dealing, ethics-lacking scammers. Republicans determined to prove government doesn’t work and can’t be trusted. And Good Christians!

]]>Draw a circle at 9:26:53am. I’ve always felt that Pi proves there is something wrong with our number system. It’s like saying “there is no word for [untranslatable] in our language.” Pi is compact, elegant, integral to examining the natural world. It’s translation into Arabic numerals is comical. Pi is smoothly analog. Its numeric rendition is arbitrarily digital, cut off from the continuum. Pi is a pearl in the palm of an ape that needs all of its fingers and toes to count.

Saturday is the day when love of math and a hankering for pastry come full circle. Saturday is Pi Day, a once-in-a-year calendar date that this time squares the fun with a once-in-a-century twist.

Saturday is 3-14-15, the first five digits of the mathematical constant pi: 3.141592653. The best times to celebrate are at 9:26 and 53 seconds, morning and evening. The next time that happens is in March 2115.

]]>It’s great to see that Republican “leaders” are frustrated with ultra-conservative Republicans. Welcome to the club, join the majority of Americans. You encouraged them and now they are going to destroy you. Hooray!

I love when Conservatives call each other “phonies” (RINOs have become CINOs) and non-credible. They’re all looking in the mirror and hate what they see, as do we all.

A frustrated Rep. Devin Nunes, the California Republican who heads the House Intelligence Committee, lashed out at “a small group of phony conservative members who have no credible policy proposals and no political strategy…”

It happened just as Jeb Bush was about to explain why he thinks conservatives need to stop being perceived as “anti-everything”: Attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference let it be known that, as part of their anti-everythingness, they are also anti-Bush.

A man wearing a tricorn hat and carrying a large “Don’t Tread On Me” flag stood up to stage a 30-person walkout of the former Florida governor’s speech. As the aspiring presidential candidate continued his Q&A with conservative commentator Sean Hannity, the Founding Father impersonator, William Temple, joined dozens of other demonstrators in the hallway, where chants of “USA!” disrupted the speech. …

[Bush] shifted and fidgeted his way through the performance, at one point losing control of his syntax by suggesting that we “put ISIS around a noose.” Asked about securing the border, Bush replied with a jovial “Let’s do it, man!” And when Hannity said he had a final question, Bush blurted out, “Boxers!”

Here is what one of those meet-the-candidate Q&As might look like if the answers were drawn from actual demurrals Walker has used in other contexts in recent weeks:

Why does Scott Walker hate America?

“I’ve never asked him that.”

When did he stop beating his wife?

“He can speak for himself.”

Does Walker love his children?

“For me, I’m going to punt on that one as well.”

Does he have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood?

“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know, one way or the other. I’ve said that 100 times, too.”

I’ll go out on a limb and stipulate that Walker loves his country and his family, and I have no reason to think he isn’t a good Christian and a decent man. But he’d be a better man if he didn’t insinuate with his demurrals that his political opponents are not.

To help engage and create our next generation of park visitors, supporters and advocates, we are kicking off the Every Kid in a Park initiative. The immediate goal is to provide an opportunity for each and every 4th grade student across the country to experience their public lands and waters in person throughout the 2015-2016 school year.